Page 7 of No One But You

“Sorry, Ms. Tonya.” Summer’s voice oozed with sarcasm.

“The girl’s not wrong though, T. You were quite explicit last weekend with your dating experiences.”

“Well, I’m no longer interested in John, anyway. He and I are yesterday’s news.” Tonya caught Kaye’s gaze in the mirror. “Go easy on the blonde. I don’t want the young bucks in town to think I’m too hot.”

“I gotcha, T. Light on the blonde but heavy on the sexy.” Kaye chuckled as she started to prepare Tonya’s hair.

“Do you think we’re going to be that . . .” I sat up as Summer wrapped a towel around my head.

“Crazy?” Summer said.

“No, I was going to say young at heart.”

Kaye spoke to Tonya in the mirror. “I’ve always liked your niece, T.”

“Yeah, I think she’s a keeper.” Tonya blew me a kiss.

I air-kissed her back and sighed. “You could have given me a longer scalp massage, Summer. With the morning I had, I deserve it.”

“Yeah, well, with the morning you had, I’m now running behind and have an eleven o’clock coming in like thirty minutes, so let’s get your hair cut and styled ASAP. I’m gonna be playing catch-up all day and starving by the time I’m done with my last cut. I want to join y’all at Jerry’s tonight as soon as possible.”

Jerry’s was short for Jerry’s Pub, the best place for sandwiches and beer in the county. Jerry no longer owned it, as he passed away years ago, but a group of local firemen purchased the pub, added on, and what used to be a small hole in the wall had become a place to hang out all weekend and take part in one of the many tournaments going on. On this particular evening, it would be cornhole.

“That’s right, Bryson and Patrick are playing tonight, aren’t they?”

“Yep,” Summer replied as she passed a comb through my hair, much easier this time. “So, what are we going to do with this stringy mess?”

I made eye contact with Summer in the mirror and put up my middle finger.

“Not smart. I have scissors in my hand.”

“Ha ha,” I said as I ran my fingers through my wet locks. “Honestly I was thinking of adding layers, framing it around my face, and cutting it just below the shoulders.”

Summer leaned back. “Are you sure? That’ll be a big change. You’re not one for big change.”

“True, but I’m also tired of dealing with it just hanging and having to put it up all the time.”

“Okay then. Let’s do this.” Summer combed some hair up, measured a length to take off, and made eye contact.

It was a little longer than what I suggested but shorter than usual. She knew me too well. I nodded.

“Good. I’d rather go a little longer at first, and if you still want to go shorter, we can take more. We just can’t put it back on if you don’t like it, and I don’t want to hear you bitch till it grows back out.”

“You sounded so genuine at first. I wondered if you were abducted by aliens. But no.”

Summer made a duck face in the mirror, and I returned it. “So, you never finished your story. Your tire was eaten by one of those craters.” Summer encouraged me to continue as she combed and snipped.

“Well, I pulled over because I ended up getting a flat, had no service, and was wondering if I would die from dehydration if I walked into town when this truck pulled over to help.”

“Who was it?”

“Someone new. Anyway, he helped me out, but was such a jerk and a sexist pig. You know—it was like he expected me not to know how to change a tire.”

“Well, you don’t.”

“Not the point. And then he was rude when I told him I didn’t have a spare because I took it out to make room for Christmas shopping.”

“You still hadn’t put it back?”

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